This invention relates in general to bulk material handling devices and, in particular, to a new and useful handling plant for dumping and discharging bulk materials which includes a bridge member which is advantageously supported on a trackway for movement over a storage space adjacent a pile for the purposes of picking up the material and delivering it to the pile and which also includes means for removing material from the pile and delivering it to a discharge location.
The present invention relates particularly to a handling plant for dumping and discharging bulk material into or from a pile and includes a loading bridge which is movable over and spans the pile on which bulk conveyors are supported and which also carries a removing and dumping gear on trolleys which are movable along the support beams of the bridge in defined trackways. A known device of this type includes one for discharging bulk material from a dumped pile and which comprises a bridge structure with a horizontal girder spanning the pile and which is adapted to travel thereover. A trolley is mounted for moving along the girder. The trolley includes a transverse projecting at both sides of the girder and carrying a supporting frame secured thereto, on which a jib is pivotally mounted. The jib carries a bulk material removing gear at its end. A conveyor is mounted in the job for discharging the bulk material taken up by the removing gear, and this is followed by an elevator mounted in the girder, by which the material is transferred onto a belt conveyor extending along and supported on the bridge. For the purpose of dumping the bulk material in the loading space, the device comprises a second trolley which is movable on the same rails as the trolley for the removing gear and it carries an ejector. To dump the material, the material is fed to the ejector by the belt conveyor supported on the bridge. With this device of the prior art, bulk material can be dumped in or discharged from a pile. However, the two operations cannot be effected simultaneously. At any reversal of the operation, the respective eliminated gear must be moved to the end of the bridge (German Auslegeschrift 1,756,635).
Another known device is a traveling bridge for dumping and removing bulk material in and from piles, in which bucket-wheel conveyor jibs, each reaching up to the middle of the bridge, are pivotally mounted at fixed locations in the zone of the bridge supports. The bucket-wheel jibs are pivotable about horizontal axes and mounted on swing columns which are rotatable about their vertical axes. Cable lines attached to booms which are connected to the swing columns are provided for lifting and lowering the bucket-wheel jibs. To supply and discharge the material, the bucket-wheel jibs are followed by belt conveyors which transfer the material to a main conveyor. For both the dumping and removing of material in and from piles, an additional, horizontally and vertically pivotable dumping belt, which receives the material from the supply belts, is mounted in the center of the bridge girder. The disadvantage of this device is the necessity of providing two bucket-wheel jibs, each of which is capable of receiving or dumping material only at one side of the pile and to a limited extent, (German Auslegeschrift 1,141,591).